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» Analysis of the story poor Lisa. The story “Poor Liza” by Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin. Detailed analysis. The significance of the story “Poor Lisa” for Russian literature

Analysis of the story poor Lisa. The story “Poor Liza” by Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin. Detailed analysis. The significance of the story “Poor Lisa” for Russian literature

The work of N. M. Karamzin is connected primarily with the emergence in Russian literature of such a trend as sentimentalism. Before that, classicism reigned in it with its clear design and didactic moral teachings. Karamzin opens up a sensual world, filled with various emotions and personal experiences of the heroes. He admitted that he considered a special sensitivity of the heart - sentimentality - to be a necessary quality of a writer. Karamzin showed himself to be a brilliant writer; his works still arouse genuine interest. Let's dwell on one of them - the story " Poor Lisa", which is currently included in the compulsory school curriculum.

It is believed that Karamzin decided on such a literary experiment, inspired by the stories of European literature, which he became acquainted with during his travels through European countries. But the writer understood: in order to arouse the interest and compassion of the Russian reader, it is necessary to find something that will evoke a response in his soul. Therefore, in addition to describing the feelings of the main characters, Karamzin describes nature in detail. He uses the surroundings around the Simonov Monastery as his main background. Oak forests, light rivers, a pond - the author tries to capture what brings him pleasure away from the bustle of the city, and fills the landscapes with a special meaning.

Thanks to this approach, the story seems very reliable. Researcher V.N. Toporov noted:

“For the first time in Russian literature, literary prose created such an image of authentic life, which was perceived as stronger, sharper and more convincing than life itself.”

Readers could visit the places described in the work and feel the atmosphere for themselves. Not far from the monastery there was a pond - the same one where the main character tragically committed suicide. Subsequently, it received the name “Lizin Pond”.

Karamzin was not only a poet and prose writer, but also an excellent translator. Thanks to him, Russian readers became acquainted with the works of W. Shakespeare, G. Lessing and other outstanding European literary figures. One of Karamzin’s most interesting creations is considered to be “Letters of a Russian Traveler,” written under the impression of a trip to Europe and published in 1791-1792. It is here that the author begins to introduce the features of sentimentalism, thanks to which he became a famous writer. The writer's talent was revealed with each of his works. A landmark event in Russian prose was the publication of the story “Poor Liza,” followed by another work, “Natalia, the Boyar’s Daughter.”

The result creative path Karamzin becomes an encyclopedic work “History of the Russian State,” which describes the events of our country from antiquity to the beginning of the Time of Troubles. Much of what is written in these twelve volumes was found in the archives by the writer himself and was first published thanks to him.

Genre and direction

“Poor Liza” belongs to the genre of the story - a prose work, which is based on a chain of logically and chronologically connected episodes. Some call “Poor Liza” a story, which is incorrect, since usually one story line and it is not as large in volume as this book.

Karamzin writes his story, moving away from the canons of classicism and using the techniques of sentimentalism. Sentimentalism is a movement in XVIII literature century, when the focus is not on reason, but on sensitivity. The hero of sentimentalism is more developed and individual, so he resonates in the reader’s soul. The poet P. A. Vyazemsky called this movement “an elegant depiction of the basic and everyday.”

The main features of sentimentalism in the story “Poor Liza”:

  • Emotionality: the reader understands what the characters feel through the description of emotions;
  • The role of nature: in addition, for a deeper study of the characters, Karamzin uses the natural world (“Often the sad turtle dove combined her plaintive voice with her moaning”);
  • Hyperbola: Lisa’s suffering sometimes seems excessive, they are very exaggerated (“...Liza, secluded in the density of the forest, could freely shed tears and moan about separation from her beloved”);
  • Author's image: the lyrical hero, who is presented in the story by a first-person narrator, describes his emotions as small lyrical digressions (“a tear is rolling down my face,” “my heart is bleeding...”).

However, not all the characters in the work have closeness with nature, but only Lisa and the narrator himself. The author endows them with this ability, focusing on the fact that they are capable of real feelings.

Meaning of the name

The title "Poor Lisa" can be interpreted in several ways. First of all, Karamzin, by adding an evaluative word to the title, makes us understand his attitude towards the heroine. He feels sorry for the girl, and he hopes that the reader will also sympathize with her.

But we should not forget that “poor” can also mean “beggar,” and Lisa’s financial situation became the reason why Erast did not want to connect his future life with her.

The essence

The plot, which currently seems quite primitive, created a furor in the Russian public at the end of the 18th century. The story depicts tragic fate poor Lisa.

The peasant girl Lisa is forced to work hard to provide for herself and her mother after the death of her father, who was a “prosperous villager.” She collects lilies of the valley in the forests and sells them in Moscow. There she is noticed by a handsome young nobleman, Erast, who falls in love with her, and these feelings seem to last forever.

They spend a lot of time together, but at some point Lisa ceases to interest the hero. At first, Erast saw in her an angel who was so strikingly different from the pompous young ladies of his circle; but after a girl gives herself to a young man, she loses her attractiveness to him. Erast begins to refuse to meet her, and then completely says that he needs to leave with the regiment going on campaign. Lisa asks him to stay, but he replies that refusing to serve means dishonor and shame for him. The girl understandably agrees, and she has to come to terms with the inevitable separation. She is very sad, but tries to hold on so as not to disturb her mother again.

One day Lisa went to Moscow to get medicine and saw her lover there. She was happy to meet him, but he said that he was now engaged and they could not be together. It turns out that instead of valiantly serving in the army, Erast became interested in playing cards and lost his entire fortune. He is unable to pay off his debts, so he decides to marry an elderly rich widow who has been in love with him for a long time. Lisa cannot survive his betrayal. After he threw her out of the door, the girl asks her friend to give her mother an apology and money, and she throws herself into the pond. They don't have time to save her. Erast was unhappy until the end of his life and blamed himself for the death of his beloved. The many-wise Litrekon sympathizes with this loss, and offers you summary stories for reader's diary and review (here).

Conflict

The main conflict of the story “Poor Lisa” can be called psychological. It lies in the characters’ attitude to love and money. Liza, who knows how to love sincerely and strongly, becomes strongly attached to Erast. She lives by her feeling, giving herself completely to it. Lisa is not interested in her lover’s financial situation; she does not take his money when he tries to pay for the lilies of the valley an amount several times higher than the stated price. At the same time, Erast enjoys a temporary relationship with a girl who at first seemed interesting to him. But then he gets bored with her and he leaves. Having lost all the money, Erast makes a deal with his conscience - he woos a rich widow for her fortune, which he needs to pay off his debts.

Lisa understood from the very beginning that she would not have a happy life with Erast. She said several times that he would never be her husband, because he was a nobleman. But this did not stop the heroine from plunging deeper and deeper into this relationship. Erast, it seemed, was ready to do anything for Lisa. But his feelings have not stood the test of time. The young man acts meanly, because he did not even tell his beloved that he had returned.

It turns out that the conflict of the work is built on such a device as antithesis (contrast). The characters in the story cannot be divided into strictly positive and strictly negative, as is customary in classicism. In sentimentalism, a clash of views is realized through the discrepancy between the feelings and principles of one hero and the feelings and principles of another hero. A social conflict is also noticeable: Karamzin, obeying the democratic trends of Europe, takes the side of the natural and sensitive peasants, not spoiled by luxury, and condemns the nobles, spoiled by the environment. In others famous examples sentimental works (Schiller, Lessing) the truth also turns out to be on the side common man, and a noble gentleman shows meanness, but often repents of it.

The main characters and their characteristics

The images of the heroes in the story “Poor Liza” contribute to the most complete disclosure of the social and love conflict:

  • Lisa- the main character of the story. Due to the death of her father, she has to become the head of the family, now consisting only of her and her mother, and take care of the household. The girl takes on any job, she is very hardworking and flexible. Lisa is distinguished by sensitivity and kindness. She takes care of her mother, who, by the way, does nothing but grieve for her dead husband. But her daughter supports her and never reproaches her. For Lisa, the feelings she experiences are at the forefront of her life. Strong love to Erast leads to tragedy - the heroine throws herself into a pond and drowns. She even does this out of emotion - immediately after a painful separation from her lover. But until the last moment she does not forget about her mother and gives her friend money and a message to the old woman. Lisa seems wise, she understands that there is no future for her and Erast. However, she gives herself to the young man without thinking about the consequences. In addition, love blinds her so much that she is not able to appreciate the changes in her chosen one, although she notices them.
  • At the beginning of the story Erast described as a wealthy and carefree nobleman. He is very spoiled and weak-willed, but at the same time he seems to be a dreamer inspired by novels. He is not a negative character. Who knows, maybe he read the same European works on the basis of which Karamzin based the plot of the story, and therefore decided on such love relationship. Flighty and frivolous, Erast to some extent cares about Lisa and her mother. At the first separation, he left them enough money so that Lisa did not need to sell the lilies of the valley. During the last meeting, he gives the girl one hundred rubles, which in those days was a very large sum. It seems as if the hero wants to pay off ex-lover, however, Erast is sure that money is very necessary for a happy life. Of course, he treats poor Liza disgustingly, and probably nothing can justify him. Although Karamzin does not directly blame him and writes that he, too, was unhappy until the end of his days. It is Erast who tells the sad story to the narrator.
  • Lisa's mother was kind woman. She could not cope with the loss of her husband and actually abdicated responsibility for the future of her daughter, whom she still loves very much. And so she spends many years yearning for her husband. Similar situation very characteristic of sentimentalism. Perhaps Lisa completely surrenders to the relationship, seeing her mother as an example. She asks her mother for advice, introduces Erast to her and supports her lamentations. Upon learning of her daughter's death, the widow immediately dies.
  • Nature also becomes one of the characters in the story. However, in “Poor Liza” nature is passive: she observes the development of the characters’ relationships, reflecting their feelings, but does not act in any way. For example, after the heroine’s fall from grace, a thunderstorm begins, that is, “nature” foreshadows trouble, but she did not interfere with it.

Topics and issues

In the story “Poor Liza” we are presented with a rich theme:

  • Perception of the world through the prism of feelings. The author describes the heroine's feelings in detail, making her more lively and understandable to the reader. Lisa's mood often coincides with the weather and the world around her. When she is happy, she notices how good it is around her. When she feels lost, the environment in which she is located corresponds to her state. The landscape in sentimentalism plays an independent role, like a chorus in an ancient theater.
  • Love is the main theme of the work. The romantic plot line is the main one in this work. Using the example of a love drama, Karamzin reveals characters and problems. Love is the most strong feeling becomes both a blessing and a calvary for Lisa.
  • Social inequality. Lisa, being a poor peasant woman, falls in love with a wealthy nobleman. They cannot be together because they are from different strata of society, which is not ready to accept such a union. Therefore, Lisa does not build castles in the air regarding their future together, although she dreams about it. She even imagined what would have happened if Erast had been a peasant like her.
  • City - village. This contrast is often found in art. In this work, the city - Moscow - becomes a haven of temptation that drags Erast away. The countryside is filled with purity and beauty, where you can find peace. And the people there are different - more sincere and innocent. That is why the young nobleman pays attention to Lisa. He is fed up with the bustle of the city and is ready to enjoy the marvelous natural landscapes. In the city, nature is not realized as a reflection of feelings, unlike in the village, where each landscape meant some kind of emotion of the characters.

Issues in the story “Poor Liza”:

  • Conscience. Until the end of his days, Erast could not forgive himself for the death of Lisa and suffered until his death. Thus, his irresponsible actions and cruel words turned into grief primarily for him.
  • Moral. The young nobleman is clearly condemned by the narrator, who wonders if anything can justify Erast? The actions of Lisa's chosen one throughout the entire work are frivolous and prosaic. But the main character is also not sinless: she gives herself to a man with whom, as she herself admits, she has no future. Both Erast and Lisa ruin their lives without giving themselves a full account of their actions.
  • Inner world. Heroines like Lisa and her mother build their entire world around one person. Usually such people are not very educated and developed, which is not surprising for peasant women. And therefore all my experiences and sensual nature Lisa dedicates to Erast, real and unreal, close and distant.
  • Social inequality. Could Erast take Lisa as his wife? No, but he didn't count on it. He, like Lisa, understood that this was impossible in the society in which they lived, so he said that he wanted to live with her as with a sister. Erast becomes a hostage to the way of life in which he was born and raised; to some extent, he is also a victim. But the young man is weak-willed and weak-willed, he seems to be floating with the flow. Lisa, even though she has no education or fortune, turns out to be spiritually superior to her lover.
  • Poverty. The lack of means to survive forces a young girl to work tirelessly. Erast, who at the beginning of the work was a wealthy nobleman, quickly loses money and gets into debt. The beggarly position of the young man forces him to propose to an elderly but rich widow. Erast has nowhere and no one to expect help from, and he has to survive in such an ignoble way.

the main idea

The idea that was innovative in Russian literature was that the lower classes, just like the higher ones, could feel. Peasants can show emotions just like nobles, or even more deeply. The phrase “And peasant women know how to love” became the key phrase for the audience, who read the story with delight. Karamzin calls for being more humane towards each other, regardless of class. Erast's selfishness destroyed Lisa, her mother, and himself.

The meaning of the story is a call to humanism, because people are equal, none of them is to blame for being born without a silver spoon in their mouth. Meanwhile, it is the silver spoon that becomes the measure of a person’s value. If Lisa were noble and rich, she and Erast would be waiting for happy life married, but the way society fixates on titles and money turns love into tragedy. Karamzin's contemporaries so enthusiastically accepted the story about feelings because there were no feelings in their lives, since all marriages were dictated by financial necessity or senile lust, but not by love.

Language

Karamzin takes the first steps in transforming the literary Russian language. He removes Old Church Slavonicisms and church vocabulary from the heroes’ speech, making the heroes’ conversations simpler and more understandable. However, the writer misses one point: the speech of a provincial peasant woman and a nobleman from large city is the same. That is, in literature there have not yet been strong differences between peasant dialect and aristocratic conversations, although they were felt in life.

In the story “Poor Liza” Karamzin uses the following means of expression:

  • Simile (“her cheeks glowed like the dawn on a clear summer evening”).
  • Metaphors (“new guest of her soul”, “angel of purity”).
  • Epithets (“white mists”, “green cover”, “life-giving rays”, “motley herd”, “gloomy oak”, “terrible death”, “pale, languid, sorrowful friend”, “scarlet sea”, “touching picture” "eastern sky")
  • The composition is to some extent circular, because the story begins and ends with a description of oak trees and a pond.
  • Antithesis and hyperbole - they ideologically permeate the entire work.
  • Personification (“groves and bushes came to life”, “flowers raised their heads”, “the wind howled”, “the darkness fed desires”).
  • Phraseologisms (“the heart bleeds”, “love was hidden”, “the blood grew cold with horror”, “came to its senses”, “inflame the imagination”).
  • Adjectives in superlatives(“the most terrible”, “the most dangerous”, “the greatest”, “the most tender”).
  • Anaphora (“Erast felt an extraordinary excitement in his blood... Erast feels awe in himself...”, “Where is your guardian angel? Where is your innocence?”).
  • Lexical repetition (“God willing! God willing! Every day, every hour I will pray for this,” “Before you were more cheerful, before we were calmer and happier, and before I was not so afraid of losing your love!”).
  • Polyunion (“They said goodbye, kissed for the last time and promised to see each other every day in the evening, either on the river bank, or in a birch grove, or somewhere near Lisa’s hut, just to be sure, to see each other without fail”).
  • Rhetorical question (“What happened to you?”, “Where is your guardian angel? Where is your innocence?”).
  • Rhetorical appeal (“Oh, Lisa, Lisa!”).
  • Gradation (“He languishes, withers, dries up - and the sad ringing of a bell announces to me his untimely death”).

Criticism

It was not only the audience who reacted with great favor to the story “Poor Liza.” Most critics spoke about Karamzin’s innovation and emphasized the peculiarity of “Poor Liza.” They noted not only the new sensitivity and sentimentality for the Russian reader, but also the sad end that the heroine chose for herself - suicide. Writer V.V. Sipovsky wrote that the Russian public for the first time met with the “bitter truth of life”, and not with a happy ending, as was the case before.

The critic V.N. Toporov called Karamzin’s work the “root” from which the “tree of Russian classical prose” grew. He believed that many of A. S. Pushkin’s works (“ Queen of Spades", "Peasant Young Lady", " Captain's daughter") were written precisely thanks to “learning the lessons of Karamzin’s story.”

However, the Soviet literary critic G. A. Gukovsky wrote that if in such European stories anti-feudal thought prevailed, showing the consequences of class inequality, then Karamzin seemed to say that one can be happy in serfdom.

“The humanity of democratic sentimentalism, which demanded freedom for every person, turned into the formula “even peasant women know how to love,” the researcher wrote.

This is a fair remark, since Karamzin really did not want the abolition of serfdom. He believed that it was necessary to regulate the arbitrariness of landowners and monitor their actions in relation to the peasants.

However, the author's personal views do not in any way detract from his merits. Karamzin called on the aristocracy to be more humane and responsive. His contribution to Russian culture is difficult to overestimate. The writer’s works still arouse interest from researchers and the general public, because he really showed life in its diversity.

Analysis of the story

1. History of creation . N. M. Karamzin’s work “Poor Liza” was written in 1792 and published in the Moscow Journal in June of the same year. The story became one of the best artistic achievements of Russian sentimentalism.
In Russia, foreign sentimental novels have long been well known and loved. Karamzin himself was actively involved in translations of European authors and decided to make an attempt to describe Russian life, feelings and experiences of Russian people.
The success of "Poor Lisa" was incredible. At the end of the XVIII - early XIX centuries Karamzin's story was considered the most popular and read in Russia.

2. The meaning of the name . The title indicates not only the name of the main character, but also her characteristics. Lisa's poverty is determined by both the girl's material and social status.

3. Genre. Tale.

4. Main theme works - unhappy love. The theme is revealed in the story of a simple peasant woman, Lisa, who lives alone with her mother. Due to the death of her father, the girl is forced to do any work available to her: needlework, picking and selling flowers and berries.
The fateful event in Lisa's fate is her meeting with the nobleman Erast. This is a young, carefree youth who has already become bored elite. In his dreams, Lisa appears to him as a romantic ideal of pure and bright love.
Secret meetings and walks lead to a logical result: young people fall in love with each other. Eventually Lisa loses her virginity. The naive girl believes that this forever connects her with the young man. However, after what happened, Erast noticeably cools off towards his beloved. He begins to treat Lisa as a simple source of pleasure.
Meetings between lovers are becoming less and less common. One day Erast tells Lisa that he must go to war. The girl believes him boundlessly and begins to patiently wait for his return.
Erast really left, but soon returned. Frivolity became the reason for his ruin. To improve his financial situation, he decides to marry a rich noblewoman. Poor Lisa accidentally finds out about this. During a difficult explanation, Erast gives the girl money as an apology and sends her home. The disgraced Lisa cannot survive her despair and throws herself into the pond.
Erast also did not achieve happiness. Until his death, he considered himself the main culprit in the death of the girl who trusted him.

5. Issues. Karmazin remained a staunch supporter of the need for social inequality. However, he unwittingly raised the problem of love relationships between different classes in the story.
The love of Lisa and Erast was doomed from the very beginning. The girl had a presentiment of this: “...you cannot be my husband! ...I am a peasant,” but she completely trusted her beloved. Erast carelessly did not even think about the consequences of his affair with a commoner.
Even if Erast had not deceived Lisa, they still would not have been able to live together. At best, the girl faced the fate of the master's kept woman.

6. Heroes. Lisa, Erast, Lisa's mother.

7. Composition. The story begins with a lyrical digression, gradually turning into the story of a poor girl. In the finale, the narrator admits that he learned about everything from Erast himself, who is also no longer alive.

8. What the author teaches . Karamzin accuses Erast (“ready to curse him”) of deceiving an ingenuous girl. The nobleman had to understand that this novel would not bring happiness to anyone.
However, the writer forgives his hero, who was inconsolable until his death. In the finale, he expresses hope for the reconciliation of lovers in another world.

Analysis of the work

This story is one of the first sentimental works in Russian literature of the 18th century. Its plot was not new, as it had been encountered more than once by domestic and foreign novelists. But feelings play a decisive role in Karamzin’s story.

One of the main characters of the work is the narrator, who tells with immense sadness and... sympathy for the fate of the girl. The introduction of the image of a sentimental narrator turned out to be Karamzin’s innovation in Russian literature, since previously the narrator remained as if on the sidelines and was neutral in relation to the events described. Already in the title of this story a proper name is combined with a certain attitude of the author towards him. Karamzin’s plot develops in an unusual way; the ideological and artistic center is not the events and constancy of the characters, but their experiences, that is, the plot is psychological in nature.

The exposition of the work is a description of the outskirts of Moscow; the author recalls the times when this city was waiting for help in severe disasters.

The plot begins with the meeting of Lisa, a poor girl, with the young nobleman Erast.

The culmination is chance meeting Liza with Erast, during which he asks her to leave him alone because he is getting married.

The denouement is the death of Lisa. She chooses death in order to resolve all problems, not to live deceived and abandoned by her loved one. For Lisa, life without Erast does not exist.

It was very important for the sentimentalist writer to address social issues. The author does not condemn Erast for the death of Lisa. After all, a young nobleman is just as unhappy as a peasant girl. For the rest of his life he feels guilty about Lisa, his own life path didn't work out. Material from the site

Karamzin was one of the first in Russian literature to discover the subtle and vulnerable inner world of a representative of the lower class, as well as the ability to love unselfishly and selflessly. It is from his story that another tradition of Russian literature begins - compassion for ordinary people, sympathy for their joys and experiences, protection of the disadvantaged and oppressed. Thus, we can say that Karamzin prepared the basis for the work of many writers of the 19th century.

Retelling plan

  1. Description of the surrounding areas of Moscow.
  2. Lisa's life.
  3. Meeting Erast.
  4. Declaration of love.
  5. A chance meeting with Erast in Moscow.
  6. Death of Lisa.
  7. The further fate of Erast.

Karamzin was the first to touch the chords in his works human soul, and began to write not about the rational, which was characteristic of classicism, but about heartfelt experiences, thereby becoming sentimentalism in Russian literature. His sentimental work was Poor Lisa, which was enthusiastically received by readers, thereby bringing popularity to the writer.

Poor Lisa: a brief analysis of the story

After studying Karamzin’s work, we have to write a short story, Poor Liza, which can rightfully be considered a work of sentimentalism. Why? Because there is an obvious sentimental bias in this work. Here society and reason took a secondary place, and the feelings of the heroes came to the fore.

The story Poor Liza takes us into the world of love between two heroes, a peasant woman and a nobleman. By the way, in his story, Karamzin showed the reader that a peasant girl also has a soul, a heart, and she also knows how to love.

Here we meet Erast, who was bored with secular society and wanted something clean and bright. And then he meets the daughter of nature - Lisa. Having read novels, Erast understands that it is Lisa who is his ideal companion. He feels good with the girl, just like Lisa and Erast. The characters fall in love, but as soon as Lisa gives herself to a man, he loses interest, he grows cold, and then disappears altogether, going to work. While in the service, Erast gets into gambling debts and has to look for a rich bride to pay off his debts. The deceived Lisa cannot stand such betrayal and throws herself into the water. This is how the life of the deceived girl ends, who drowned herself in a pond near the Simonov Monastery. Erast, having learned about the death of his beloved, and the end of his life, was unhappy and considered himself a murderer.

Genre and composition

Speaking about the genre of the story Poor Lisa, it is worth noting that this is a short story, a small work that does not look like multi-volume works. In it, the writer uses a sentimental focus with a tragic outcome. The composition is simple, telling us about the events that happened thirty years ago. The relationship between the heroes lasted only three months, during which their social inequality became invisible. And the fact that a man leaves a peasant woman and marries an elderly widow does not surprise anyone. After all, this is a common phenomenon among noble society. I feel very sorry for Lisa, who has real feelings. She believed in love and could not bear betrayal. Her life ends tragically.

Problems and main idea

In the analysis of the story Poor Lisa, we see several problems raised by the writer. Here the inequality of social classes, betrayal are clearly visible, the theme of love and the theme are touched upon. Revealing these problems, the writer also shows their versatility, which lies in the comparison of life in the city and life in the countryside. At the same time, the images of the village and the city are contained in the image of Lisa and Erast. The author shows how terrible the city is, which can easily enslave a person. We see this in the behavior of Erast, who easily took advantage of the girl and then abandoned the unfortunate woman. Continuing our analysis of the work, we see the main problem

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Karamzin’s incredibly sincere and emotional work does not leave anyone indifferent - in the story the author described the typical feelings of people in love, outlining a picture from the very beginning to the decline of the feelings of one of the lovers.

The philosophical subtext and psychological basis make this work look like a legend - a sad tale based on real events.

Characteristics

Karamzin's story does not have a significant list of heroes. There are only five of them:

  • Lisa;
  • Lisa's mother;
  • Erast;
  • Annushka;
  • Author.

The image of Lisa is depicted in the best traditions of sentimentalism - she is a sweet and sincere girl, gentle and impressionable: “pure. a joyful soul shone in her eyes.”

The girl is somewhat similar to an angel - she is too innocent and virtuous: “beautiful in soul and body.” It seems that she grew up in another world, because she was able, despite all the difficulties of society and the era, to preserve goodness and humanity.

At the age of 15, Lisa was left without a father. Life with my mother was difficult financially, but easy in psychological aspect– a friendly, trusting relationship has been established between mother and daughter. The mother, being a compassionate woman, constantly worries about her beloved daughter, like all parents, she wishes her better fate. The woman could not survive the loss of her daughter - the news of Lisa’s death became fatal for her.

Erast is a nobleman by birth. He is an intelligent and educated person. His life is typical young man his age and class - dinner parties, balls, card games, theater, but it doesn’t bring him much joy - he’s pretty tired of all the entertainment. Meeting Lisa noticeably changes him and instead of boredom he develops an aversion to attributes social life.

Lisa’s harmonious life allowed him to consider other aspects of existence: “with disgust he thought about the contemptuous voluptuousness that his feelings had previously reveled in.”
The image of Erast is not without positive qualities– he is a gentle and courteous person, but the young man’s selfish spoiledness did not allow him to become as harmonious as Lisa.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with what came from the pen of the classic author N. Karamzin.

The image of Annushka in the story is fragmentary - we meet this character already at the end of the work: having learned about Erast's wedding, Lisa realizes that she cannot come to terms with it and does not understand her life without this person - the option of committing suicide seems to her one of the most acceptable. At this time, Lisa notices Annushka, the neighbor’s daughter, and instructs her to give the money to her mother. After this, Lisa throws herself into the pond.

Criticism

Karamzin's story was repeatedly called a breakthrough of its time; the motif, so typical of European literature, was for the first time transferred to the plane of Russian culture, which was already an innovation. The public's particular interest in the work was also caused by the introduction of a new direction - sentimentalism.

Literary critics and researchers highly appreciated Karamzin’s story and noted that the author managed to recreate “living” reality for the reader - the work was surprisingly realistic, devoid of artificial emotions and images.

Russian scientist, professor-philologist V.V. Sipovsky believed that Karamzin was the “Russian” Goethe - his living word contributed to a breakthrough in literature.

Karamzin, according to the scientist, provided readers with reverse side medals, showing that a person’s life, even if he is just an invention of the author, should not always be filled with idyll, sometimes it can have fatality and tragedy: “The Russian public, accustomed in old novels to consoling endings in the form of weddings, “who believed that virtue is always rewarded and vice is punished, for the first time in this story she encountered the bitter truth of life.”

A. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky, analyzing the significance of “Poor Liza,” focused on the European basis of the story, both in terms of plot and in terms of sentimentalism, which had not yet spread to Russia, but was already widespread in Europe. “Everyone sighed until they fainted” - this is how he assesses the influence on the public of the work, and quite ironically notes that after the release of “Poor Lisa” everyone began to “drown in a puddle.”

G. A. Gukovsky also speaks about the same effect, noting that after reading “Poor Liza,” crowds of young people began to appear near the Simonov Monastery and admire the surface of the lake, in which, according to Karamzin’s idea, the girl drowned.

In his opinion, nature in the story performs its own special function - it tunes the reader to a lyrical perception of reality. Poor Liza is not so much a real peasant as an ideal opera heroine, and her sad story should not outrage, but only create a lyrical mood.”

V.N. Toporov claims that “Poor Liza” became a significant work not only in Russian literature, but also in the work of Karamzin - it was this work that opened the era of “breakthrough” both in the work of the literary figure and in historical development literature in general.

“Poor Liza” is precisely the root from which the tree of Russian classical prose has grown, whose powerful crown sometimes hides the trunk and distracts from reflection on the historically very recent origins of the very phenomenon of Russian literature of the New Age.”

Catchphrases from the story

I love those objects that touch my heart and make me shed tears of tender sorrow!

Every person is sentimental to one degree or another. Some people show their sentimentalism from an early age, while others acquire this feeling after some time, having acquired sufficient life experience.



The special emotions that arise in a person during contact with objects of material or spiritual culture help create the effect of catharsis - emotional relief.

Peasant women know how to love!

Until a certain point, it was believed that peasants were not emotionally and mentally similar to aristocrats. The essence of this statement was not the lack of education of the peasants, but the conviction that the peasants, even with education, would not be able to become similar in spiritual development on representatives of the aristocracy - they are not characterized by high manifestations of feelings, in fact, it turned out, based on this theory, that the peasants are guided exclusively by instincts, they are characterized only by the most simple emotions. Karamzin showed that this is not so. Serfs can show different feelings and emotions, and theories that they are several steps lower in their development are prejudices.

It is better to feed yourself by your own labors and not take anything for nothing.

This phrase reflects the moral principles of an honest person - if you haven’t earned money for a certain thing, then you have no right to claim it.

Old people can be suspicious

Due to their age and life experience, old people try to protect young people from the mistakes of their youth. Since young people are often in no hurry to share their problems and concerns with the older generation, the only way to find out about the upcoming problem is to analyze the individual’s behavior, and for this you need to be observant.

How good everything is with the Lord God! It is necessary that the Heavenly King should love a person very much when he removed the local light so well for him.

In the natural world, everything is harmonious and aesthetically pleasing. A person with a sensual soul cannot help but notice these subtleties and admire them. In spring and summer, the feeling of the beauty of nature is felt especially vividly - nature, which slept in winter, comes back to life and delights with its beauty the world. Creatures who have the opportunity to contemplate all this beauty cannot be unloved by God, otherwise he would not try to create such a beautiful and harmonious world.

The fulfillment of all desires is the most dangerous temptation of love.

There is always love fervor between lovers, however, in the case when relationships between people develop too quickly and the effect of permissiveness is present, the fervor quickly fades away - when everything has been achieved, then there is not a single nook left in a person’s soul where a dream or desire to penetrate fantasy - there is no reason for dreams, if in this case the relationship does not reach another level (for example, marriage), then there is a fading of emotions and passion in relation to the object of one’s passion and admiration.


Death for the fatherland is not scary

A person is unthinkable without his “roots”; one way or another, each individual must recognize himself not only as a part of society, but also as a part of the state. The welfare and problems of the state should be perceived by everyone as the problems of their own family, therefore death in the name of one’s state is not inglorious.

Test on the plot of the story

1. How old was Lisa when her father died?
A) 19
B)15
AT 10

2. Why, after the death of the father, did the family begin to live in poverty?
A) could not pay rent for the land
B) the workers did not cultivate the land so well and the harvest decreased
C) the money was spent on the treatment of sister Lisa

3. At what price did Lisa sell lilies of the valley?
A) 5 kopecks
B) 5 rubles
B) 13 kopecks

4. Why didn’t Lisa start selling flowers for 1 ruble?
A) It was too cheap
B) her conscience did not allow her
B) The ruble was damaged

5. Why do Lisa and Erast meet at night?
A) Erast is busy all day
B) They may be slandered
C) Their meetings could cause a quarrel with Erast’s fiancee

6. Why was Lisa afraid of a thunderstorm during one of their night meetings with Erast?
A) She was afraid that the thunder would strike her like a criminal.
B) Lisa was always afraid of thunderstorms.
C) The thunderstorm was very strong and the girl was afraid that her mother would wake up and find that Lisa was not at home.

7. Why didn’t Erast refuse to go to war?
A) could not contradict the order
B) Lisa became disgusting to him
C) everyone would laugh at him and consider him a coward

8. Why is Erast not afraid to die in war?
A) He knows no fear
B) death for the Fatherland is not scary
C) he has been dreaming about death for a long time

9. Why did Erast order Lisa to forget him?
A) he’s tired of the girl
B) was afraid that everyone would laugh at him after learning about his relationship with Lisa
C) he was engaged and his relationship with Lisa could harm his marriage.

10. What did Lisa do with the money that Erast gave her?
A) returned Erast back
B) gave it to the beggar standing under the church
B) gave them to the neighbor’s daughter so that she could give them to Liza’s mother.

11. How did Lisa’s mother perceive her death?
A) Killed Erast
B) Drowned from grief
C) The news was so stunning for her that she died immediately

12. What do the peasants think when they hear the howling of the wind in the house where Lisa and her mother lived?
A) it’s Lisa’s soul crying
B) tramps climbed into the house for the night
C) It is Erast who comes to yearn for his lost happiness.

Key:

B 2.b 3.a 4. b5.b 6.a 7.c 8.b 9.c 10.c. 11. At 12

Thus, it is difficult to overestimate the significance of Karamzin’s story on the process of development of literature and culture. The images of his characters are endowed with actually typical qualities, but their depiction inner world and the vivid description of the characters’ feelings creates a picture of realism and uniqueness.